Bay of Islands

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I was struggling to make a decision regarding my next destination, so I finally decided to head up to the Bay of Islands for a few days. I stayed in a place called Paihia, which I am sure is a glorious beachside experience when it isn't raining relentlessly. Which is what it did for the majority of my time there.

Still, I enjoyed the trip. I saw Cape Regiana, the most northerly point of NZ. You could see an impressive amount of ocean, let me tell you. I saw some Kauri trees - cousins of those huge trees they have around San Fransico - they were the largest trees I have ever seen. On the same trip I tried sandboardng. This involves shooting down massive sanddunes on a small board. Quite exciting, but results in sand being found in virtually every orafice up to several days later.

The trip was rounded off by a drive down 90-mile beach, which was pretty cool. The driver got me excited by exclaiming he had seen a penguin! It turned out to be a dead penguin with his head gradually being consumed by evil seagulls. Nice.

I also went out on the bay on a 'dolphin watching cruise'. Was quite supprised by the massive number of dolphins, milling around and generally avoiding those brave enough to swim - I know I should have, but seriously, I was freezing wearing a t-shirt, two jumpers and a mack, and really didn't fancy a dip in the choppy waters!

The dolpins were entertaining as viewed from the boat, and I will surely have the opportunity to have a swim with the friendly little souls once I have reached the sunnier climes of Australia.

Tomorrow I head down to Waitomo to have a look at some apparently rather impressive caves. My bus leaves at the ungodly hour of 8:15, meaning I will have to get up around 6:30am.

Waitomo is known for various 'extreme' caving experiences. I will hopefully be floating through some glowworm lit caves on a rubber ring - the lesser of the afore mentioned 'extreme' activities availble.

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Comments

[Jen]

Yep, I'm jealous... (and still haven't escaped 'Freedom'!)
Hey Mr Duvallus! Finally got around to checking out your updates and glad to see all is going fairly well for you on your travels, and yes I'm jealous! Take care, keep us posted and above all enjoy yourself!